Gamelan
Semara Ratih was formed in 1989 as a collective
of top musicians, composers, dancers, and choreographers from southern
Bali, including many esteemed graduates of the national academy of the
arts in Denpasar. Soon after its inception, the troupe became renowned
in Bali for the power, excitement, dynamicism, innovation, and dramatic
and musical breadth of its performances (the name of the troupe evokes
the merging of the female and male principles of passion).

Photo
Maurizio Rosenberg Colorni

In Indonesia Semara Ratih performs extensively
throughout Bali and in Java and has performed at the request of the
minister of state at the national palace at Tampaksiring. Many
international fans have enjoyed Semara Ratih’s performances in Bali,
and by the early 1990s, the troupe began to be invited to bring its
dazzling performances to audiences abroad in Europe and Japan. The
troupe has performed in Denmark, Japan, Germany, Belgium, and the
Netherlands, and members have also performed in the USA, Canada, and
various European and Asian countries. In 1994 Semara Ratih was the
first non-Western group to perform at the Royal Danish Theatre in
Copenhagen, where they brought down the house, receiving nine curtain
calls. With the 2010 Konya Mystic Music Festival, Semara Ratih becomes
the first gamelan troupe of any kind to perform in Turkey, rounding out
the group’s 2010 European tour.

In 1998 Gamelan Semara Ratih entered and won first place
in the annual Bali Nusa Dua Festival and in 2002 the troupe entered and
won first place in Bali’s annual Gong Kebyar competition. Many
commercial audio and video recordings of Semara Ratih are available for
sale throughout Indonesia, Japan, the USA, and Europe on JVC, Bali
Records, Maharani, Alula, and other labels.

Our Philosophy

It is important both to conserve the unique traditional
performing arts of Bali in their diverse forms and to keep the arts
vital by actively creating new works that extend the traditional
repertoire. Few ensembles in Bali can match the large and diverse
repertoire performed by Semara Ratih, which extends from courtly semar pegulingan and ceremonial angklung works to flashy and vibrant gong kebyar creations. Very early in its
history, the group commissioned the construction of a special gamelan
set called gamelan semaradhana
(only the second of its kind, now widely copied, partly inspired by
Semara Ratih’s success) designed to allow the performance of several
different genres of music on a single gamelan set: four-tone angklung,
five-tone gong kebyar, and seven-tone modulating semar pegulingan. The
troupe has also gained international attention for its “Seniman Tua” or
“Living Treasures of Bali” series, which honors elder artists and aims
to carry forth their endangered styles and repertoire.

Directors

Gamelan Semara Ratih is led by Anak Agung Gede Anom Putra,
“Anom Baris,” who became famous in Bali as a teenager for the intense
control, power, and beauty of his Barismale warrior
dance, for which he won first prize in an island-wide competition. As a
child, 'Gung Anom studied with Anak Agung Gede Mandera, director of the
famous Gamelan Gunung Sari, one of the first Balinese troupes to travel
abroad, and I Made Jimat, one of Bali’s most celebrated dancers. While
still a graduate student in the national arts academy, he led the group
of outstanding artists who formed Semara Ratih.

'Gung Anom’s fame as a young dancer made him the subject
of books, postcards, and films. With Semara Ratih, other ensembles, and
as a solo performer, 'Gung Anom has been invited to perform in various
parts of Indonesia including at the presidential palace in Jakarta, in
Japan, Singapore, Malaysia, China, the USA (New York City, New Jersey,
Washington D.C., California), Canada, Denmark, Finland, the
Netherlands, Germany, Switzerland, China, and Belgium. Like most great
Balinese performers, 'Gung Anom brings into his performance a deep
spirituality that allows to enter into him inspiration from the realm
beyond the personal.

Gung Anom is joined by Ni
Gusti Ayu Sukmawati, dance director, and I Ketut Cater, music
director.

Photo
M. R. Colorni

Gusti Ayu is a highly accomplished exponent of the famous Peliatan
style of Legong dancing,
having been taught personally by the great Anak Agung Gede Mandera of
Gamelan Gunung Sari fame, and is known for the deep acting skills that
she brings to her dramatic dance roles and for her ability to memorize
entire long dance pieces after a single viewing. She comes from a
family of accomplished dancers: her aunt was one of the Legong dancers
immortalized by Gunung Sari's 1952 tour to America and Europe. In 2002
Gusti Ayu was master teacher of Semara Ratih's Legong Kuntir
dancers, who won first prize in competition at the annual Gong Kebyar
Festival.

I Ketut Cater is one of the shining
musical stars from the village of Pindha in southeast Bali. A graduate
of Indonesia's national arts institute, he is one of the foremost
composers of his generation and is commissioned regularly to compose
large-scale works for gamelans performing in Bali's annual Gong Kebyar
competition.